“I want guys to be looking in the mirror, looking at themselves,” Ryan said. “You want guys who say, ‘Yeah, I’m looking good,’ feeling good about themselves, feeling strong, being able to move people. That’s what you want your team to be. We want to play the part, for sure. But it’s not bad looking the part, either.”

One key part of the Jets’ mission to improve on last season’s disappointing 8-8 finish has been fielding a faster and stronger team. They’ve been working toward that in their offseason strength and conditioning program with three words in mind: “Strength, power and explosiveness.”

Head strength and conditioning coach Bill Hughan presented that theme via power point on April 16, when the offseason program began. By the time players reported, Hughan had spent more than three months designing an offseason strength and conditioning program that would help the Jets individually and collectively function better on the field.

Ryan was proud that attendance for the voluntary offseason, including workouts and organized team activities, was 98.5 percent this year, which he said was the highest tally in his tenure with the Jets.

Hughan was hired in February 2011 to replace Sal Alosi, who resigned after the 2010 sideline tripping incident, but this was Hughan’s first offseason program with the Jets because of last year’s lockout.

The morning after players completed their exit physicals following the season-ending loss to Miami in January, Hughan began brainstorming and configuring his program.

He sought feedback from Ryan, general manager Mike Tannenbaum, coordinators and position coaches. The simple motto — turning your weaknesses into our strengths — had been on the wall in the weight room since Hughan arrived, but it became a point of emphasis this offseason and was written on the back of the team-issued T-shirts.

“He brought in more functional exercises, rather than the usual base bench (press) and stuff like that, things that would challenge our balance and our change of directions,” nose tackle Sione Pouha said. “Instead of being more one-dimensional, I’m a multi-dimensional type of player.”

One tactic was contrast training, in which players would contrast a strength exercise, like a barbell lunge, with a plyometric exercise, like jumping on and off a box. They did the exercises back to back, to build power and explosiveness even when fatigued, as they might experience in a lengthy series of plays during a game.

Each player has his own workout folder. Included are corrective exercises for physical imbalances that could result in injuries, identified by the functional movement screens scheduled at the start of the offseason program, organized team activities and training camp. And each player’s regimen is tailored to his goals.

Starting quarterback Mark Sanchez, for instance, aimed this offseason to become thicker while also maintaining his agility and speed. His weight is above 230 pounds as he added strength to both his upper and lower body.

“Being able to have more lean mass on your frame, you can withstand a little bit more of the pounding,” said Hughan, previously the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Falcons and Raiders. “That’s how it helps him, being able to take shots, and get back up and do the next one.”

Competition also drove the offseason program. There were informal personal challenges, like when a lineman challenged Tim Tebow to hold a pair of sledgehammers out to the side for as long as possible — and Tebow beat him at the task by 14 seconds, Ryan said.

More formally, the defense and offense were each divided into two teams, competing against each other weekly in lifts, sprints and even “ultimate tag football.”

The reward was time off during camp, but players also felt their camaraderie building. Pouha’s team, which won the defensive competition, had several names, including “Team United.”
What will the dividends be this fall? Hughan said simply, “We’ll see.”

“There is weight room strong, and there is field strong,” Hughan said. “And you want your weight room strength to translate to the field.”